


Feel Better (When I'm Not Alone)

by orphan_account



Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: (kind of?), ??? - Freeform, Eventual Romance, Family Bonding, I am in big denial of the Big Reveal, I'm still figuring out the tags help, It's Laserblast and V are brothers, Light Angst, M/M, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Past Abuse, Rating May Change, Slice of Life, So I completely ignore it and use an AU instead, Tags May Change
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-09-12
Packaged: 2020-07-30 19:29:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20102425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: The move into Boxmore has brought more than just a new lifestyle into the factory and its residents along with long forgotten memories that arise in the shape of a decaying cardboard box owned by Professor Venomous, ignored over the years.When this past starts seeping through the cracks and imperfections of the walls he's built around himself, the "truth" rearing its head in, threatening to bring down this world he's built for himself and everyone around him. The choice to deal with the burden on his own is made.Can Venomous carry the weight of this all on his own?





	1. Whenever, wherever

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [All Our Villainy](https://archiveofourown.org/works/19251070) by [DwarfsareAwsome](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DwarfsareAwsome/pseuds/DwarfsareAwsome). 

After the recent acquisition of the company back from the Board of Villains, things returned to its normal pace. This time though, more rooms were added, a few ray guns and other threatening (but barely used) destruction devices were placed on top the angular building and some decor choices were changed, along with the presentation of the company. Nowadays the traditional “BM” could be found inside a wide “V”, usually in lighter color in all products and instances of the newly reacquired Boxmore factory. 

With these changes came challenges, such as moving into the building which had more than necessary floors and labyrinth-like halls for what was supposed to be a living space. 

He could get used to these changes, he had thought a few weeks ago.

Now that his belongings were probably misplaced in an unknown room it was time to acknowledge that wouldn’t happen any time in the foreseeable future. 

The room was full of empty boxes and some that were halfway dealt with, full of objects that did not go inside a bedroom such as volatile solutions and compounds or varied kitchen utensils that an inexperienced person could confuse with laboratory equipment. The professor could feel the incoming headache for the tenth time in the week.

The move had been a hassle, in the rush to move in the factory he had packed his belongings without labeling the boxes appropriately. It resulted in the current mess he was in, having misplaced things in rooms where they probably didn’t belong. Luckily enough, Fink's things didn’t get mixed up with any dangerous or potentially harming objects. It would be an understatement to say he was distracted; he was way out of it. Out of everything that was happening in this moment.

It would be a lie if this new arrangement didn’t make him giddy. He couldn’t say he was overjoyed, excited. Rather it just felt weird. These things he felt... experienced? We’re new, or it just has been a while since Venomous had felt such emotions, specially this strongly. 

“D'ya need help with anything?” A little voice chided in, breaking his train of thought as the creaky door made the new presence known in the room, the whirring of the machines faintly heard from the halls underneath.

Venomous turned, now facing the door. Boxman stood awkwardly by the entrance, fidgeting with his hands. “Heard some stuff of yours got misplaced...” His voice got a little louder from the earlier sentence, looking directly at him.

“It’s no big deal, I’ll figure it out.” He replied, feeling a little hitch in his throat, “I’m just missing some things from my bedroom and the lab.”

“Oh, alright! Want me to help you with something?” The little man said sheepishly, scratching his nape as he turned his eyes away from the professor. 

“Could you leave this box at the kitchen?” He held the box with both hands as he walked to the door where Boxman rested one side of his body against the metal frame, “It's mostly some cutlery and all that”.

“S-Sure PV!” He replied enthusiastically, almost bouncing on his feet to grab the light box. The man grabbed the offered container with both hands, wishing he would get to touch the other's hands. Instead, the hands cowered away from it as he received it, avoiding all touch. 

The tall man gave him a small smile and mouthed a quick “thanks” before going back into the mess of cardboard, almost as if hiding away. He turned on his heel and headed for the kitchen, seeing the contents of the open box to be a set of knives, fancy cutlery and some other utensils he couldn’t tell a use for, probably fancier knives.

Back in the professor's room, a light blush dusted his cheeks as he stared emptily to whatever lied in front of him, his mind still going over the recent exchange. How close their hands where, the small glint in Boxman's organic eye, for a moment it seemed he was enthralled with the simple action of handing over a box. He felt the warmth spread all over his face as he recalled with detail how the glint slightly grew as they almost made contact. 

It wasn’t like it was the first time, there were a lot of other moments where they had hugged or held each other's hands, while exchanging papers or bidding goodbye after a business meeting, but this... somehow, was more special. Perhaps it’s the fact they’re now living under the same roof, in the same place. 

It was a normal thing for business partners to do, right? It made things easier, handling the new and current customers, managing the finances, keeping the smaller man in check with the robot production, attacking the plaza...

Maybe the last one wasn’t exactly a business-y thing to do. 

Venomous is just helping Boxman get back on his feet, and he’s taking his part for helping him, being the co-owner of Boxmore. This was nothing more than a temporal business arrangement just to help a fellow villain, a very talented and dedicated one at that. He had known of the man's innate evilness, seeing him go wild on that night he thought he'd be ending all connections to him and the company.

He silently cursed himself for remembering every detail of the moment they shared that night, the warm and tense body relaxing against his, the way their eyes looked at each other for a moment that felt tender and exposed that ended in an awkward cough and a rigid goodbye.

There has not been a night since then where his last thoughts are not from the small, wild man.

His daydreaming slowly faded away as he knelt to pick another box and inspect its contents. The worn texture of the cardboard and a washed-out brown color caught his attention, that box he kept hidden for a long time, time already claiming the peeling paper.

The bittersweet memories he tried for so long to forget came washing down on him like a cold waterfall, his brow knitted tightly in a frown, kicking the box under what was supposed to be a bed, to be forgotten or be hidden later. 

He was already caught up in this mess of cardboard and mismatched belongings, he didn’t need to be reminded of things that were already done, in a past he’d rather forget.

Just seeing the box, knowing too well what was inside of it made him angry, sad, everything but happy at the same time. Releasing his anger at the empty boxes and the sturdy trinkets he usually kept in his room, resulting in dented boxes and things thrown haphazardly around the tall shelves. 

He should just burn the damn thing, but something inside of him he couldn’t explain never allowed for such thing to happen.


	2. Settling down

A week has passed since all the boxes were found and its contents placed in their respective rooms, after some help from various Ernestos that were constantly denied from getting involved in the mess he created until the tall man gave up on sorting the boxes out by himself. 

The early morning sun peeked through the blinds, thin slices of warm yellow light resting on the cold floor. Robotic steps and engines whirred softly to life downstairs as the day began.

With an annoyed sigh, a drowsy little man arose from the big bed, teal hair wild going in varying directions and a half open organic eye having a hard time adjusting to softly lit room. 

In briefs and a worn shirt, a prize from some old fair he attended to, Boxman made his way to the kitchen. The halls were oddly empty, a rarely calm morning.

Once in front of the heavy door that led into the kitchen, a decent sized dining table appeared in his sight, only Raymond seemed to be missing his seat, an empty chair and the empty bowl ready to be used on top of the wooden surface. 

The rest of the robots were already there, serving themselves. Shannon looked confusedly at her bowl of milk, almost pondering that something was missing without fully realizing it while Darrell ate enthusiastically the spare parts in his, Ernesto just sat there taking small sips of some sort of hot beverage and Mikayla... just picked at the parts that dropped to the floor even with her bowl full. Jethro... was Jethro.

Everything seemed in order, in his mostly conscious mind as he saw the highchair beside an empty one...

The professor! 

His surprise vanished when a hand rested on his shoulder shortly and a yawn came out from the new presence in the room. Venomous, who headed straight to the cupboards where he kept the low-quality instant coffee, Raymond already at the table pouring just dry spare parts and munching on them.

With everyone present at a decent and hourly manner, he went to grab two mugs, both with the new Boxmore logo, leaving them beside the coffeemaker as the smell wafted from the machine through the room, filling the cold air with the smell of warm and freshly prepared coffee. 

The little rat girl came in, dragging her feet on the floor as Venomous opened a different cupboard and took out a different brand of cereal for Fink, handing it over to her as she tiptoed to put it on the table and climbed onto the chair, pouring the milk first and cereal second, still sleepy.

No one talked yet, feeling too tired from the past hectic weeks. Munching silently or taking small sips of drinks before speaking a word. 

As everyone was done with their meals, and a lot more awake, Boxman gave the orders for the day. They involved working on the most recent order of Shannon models for some villain whose name wasn’t important in that moment, repairing the older models from whatever ailment they could have and prepare the next tax payments for the Board. 

He decided to include an attack to the plaza later in the morning in that list. 

After a few exchanges between the robots and some bickering between Fink and Darrell at the table, everyone was dismissed to do their tasks, dishes clanking in the sink and the water running as it was Ernesto’s turn to do the kitchen cleaning this time. 

Only the professor and the lord were left at the table, discussing some advancements on their respective fields over empty mugs, the round robot behind them silently humming to himself as he scrubbed the bowls and plates clean.

“So, I’ve been working on balancing the charge caused by the glorbs in robots, so their cores don’t wear out too fast or cause collateral damages to internal structures and-“ Boxman went on his talk about the structures of the robots, how things should be changed and which spare parts he managed to scrap from last time.

He made a lot of gestures with his hands, emphasizing with a light knock on the table on the important bits about the reactions certain materials had to heat.

The professor stopped listening for a bit, his face resting on his hand as he looked at the other man get excited about what new things he could make with the scrapped parts. He noticed how his fangs would stand out as he smiled while talking, the messy teal bed hair and the comfy shirt with a jokey cartoon of a chicken in it, feeling at ease with how good it felt. 

He heard something about some tests of his new mechanical parts on Shannon by attacking the plaza, but he mostly focused on how much Boxman beamed up when he started describing something about those parts.

“Hey... Professor?” He was taken out of his thoughts when a chicken claw waved in front of his face, making him jump a little in his seat, repositioning himself on the chair, sitting straight instead with both forearms crossed on the table instead of resting his head on the back of his hand.

“Sorry, seems I’m still not fully awake” he laughed nervously, hoping his lie was convincing enough, “Could you repeat that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing! Just wondering how you’ve been faring so far in the new place” the little man looked away, quickly darting his eyes back at him.

“It has been nice, the lab is pretty spacious and the forgotten material you had in it has been quite useful” He stated, a tiny smile on his lips along with the warmth that rose to his face and neck.

“I've ran some tests on the new substance to keep biological elasticity intact and even stretch it beyond, so far it’s turning out nicely enough at a small scale.” He ended, doing a gesture with his hand by lowering it over the table to emphasize on the “little” aspect of his new project. 

The other man seemed enthralled with his experiment, or at least with what he said about it.

The attention made him aware they were still in their sleeping clothes, in an awfully domestic situation he wasn’t used to, yet. 

“A-anyway, I have to get ready.” He coughed awkwardly, the legs of chair screeching unceremoniously against the floor as he stood up, Ernesto looking back at them with a little surprise from the sudden sound, “There’s a meeting I have to attend to in a few hours.”

“Alright, I’ll see you later?”

“Yes, I hope it won’t take long.”

With that, the taller man left, the heavy door opening and closing with a whirr. 

The walk back to his quarters was silent, hearing Fink and Darrell discuss something about cowboys and space goons with shooty things. He didn’t pay much attention at first, in his rush to get to his room as the thoughts revolved in his mind about how easy it was to fall into domesticity with the cyborg. 

The tall door to his room, which had some violet accents across it in lines that faded into orange ones, opened as he stepped forward. He had heard something from Boxman about instant biological recognition he managed to do by testing it on his chicken arm that didn’t require contact. 

It was quite impressive, if he was honest. 

The now organized room contained a king bed, a dark purple duvet on top and grey bedsheets under. The tall shelves rose a third of the wall, the top being home to simple decorations and potted plants. On the right wall of the room, facing the scenery behind the factory, divided in three glass panels that took the whole wall all the way to the roof, covered by long and dark roller blinds. 

Beside the door, stood two libraries, between them a minimalistic spruce wood desk with a big plush chair. By the left, a foyer that led to the dresser and to the bathroom.

Quite a simple layout for a bedroom.

He made his way into the foyer, slipping out of his pajamas and folding them neatly to leave them on a short table in a corner of the room. He entered the bathroom, taking the last of his clothes off to enter the glass cubicle to shower. 

The spray of the lukewarm water relaxed him. The thoughts he had come with, instantly fading away, far away from his current consciousness as slightly warmer water drops ran down, contouring of his body, wrapping and sliding down to his feet. 

Soap bubbles and suds splayed around where the liquid was rubbed as it cleaned the dirt and dead cells off skin and scales, the kind lavender scent filling his nostrils along with the steam.

Pouring a considerable amount of shampoo into his hand, his fingers massaged his scalp, feeling the strands of midnight hair lighter without the grease from yesterday. Finally scrubbing gently bubbles and shampoo off with water, leaving slick and clean hair.

After finishing his shower, he wrapped a fluffy beige towel around his waist and another one around his head as he waited for the excess water to dry off while he choose what to wear. 

Stepping out of the steam, he entered the open door to the dresser. 

Various clothes and shoes neatly organized in shelves and boxes were displayed in the small room, a wide variety of choices in front of him. Venomous pulled out his classic midnight blue turtleneck sweater, a pair of black slim pants and dark socks, as per usual. 

Once dressed and dry, he slipped into the knee-high off-white boots and headed out of the room, grabbing a messenger bag with his laptop, some documents and his cellphone.

The meeting he had with the board was in a few hours. 

Seeing if he left now, he’d be early to it, meaning he could get some work done in the meantime the rest of the villains arrived at the location they agreed on.

The thought of being out longer than expected bothered him a little, in his innermost part, knowing how the meetings tended to extend over nonsensical gossip and meaningless chatter between the people present, especially with Billiam. 

He really wasn’t looking forward to it, but it had to be done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help myself and decided to post this update a little earlier than expected, all your comments and kudos are extremely nice and supporting! I can't thank you all enough for reading ❤!
> 
> Things are going a bit slow for now in this chapter, meanwhile things really start turning in the story.
> 
> See you all again in a week or less, and once again, thanks for reading!!


	3. Out of your hands

The clouds started gathering in dark grey bundles, the chance of rain becoming a reality as small droplets fell and collided with the world below. Venomous found himself in a little place somewhere in the outskirts of the neutral territory, sitting in a soft cushioned chair near a window that faced the small parking spot of the strangely located café.

The place had an austere exterior that betrayed its luxurious and eccentric inside, being easily ignored as another building far away from the city. A simple A-frame roof that made the construction seem older than it really was, covered in sun bleached ceramic tiles. Dark and moss-covered bricks in the outside, beige wallpapered walls inside. Dirty and stained windows helped hide what resided inside, along with translucent white curtains that draped from the top to the floor. 

It was, perhaps, the weirdest location choice for a face to face meeting the Board had made yet. 

As far as he knew, the place was run by some petty villain that liked ruining hero's drinks at a venue they had near the plaza. They make some pretty good drinks and baked goods on Thursdays, which caught Billiam’s interest and decided to invest in it with the agreement they would serve the highest quality products to villains and villains only, to which the guy accepted undoubtedly.

And yet they tended to mess up Billiam's favorite latte macchiato and Vormulax's café au lait. It made him chuckle a bit. Villains would always be villains; they couldn’t keep their mischief away even from others like them, in a sort of playful evilness. 

These thoughts faded as he shifted against the cushioned seat and rested his head on top of the border, looking up at a roof covered in old oak wood slabs and a small golden lamp that hung low, near the table. The graphs idly displayed on his laptop showing Boxmore’s production rates and gains, but he stopped looking at them a while ago.

Venomous saw the white headlights of a black and yellow cabriolet, the reflected shadows inside turned hard and its edges well-defined against the walls. He stared patiently, seeing Cosma and Vormulax emerge from the vehicle, the lights turning off, shadows going back to its diffuse and soft shape. 

As the two villains made their way into the café, Venomous started preparing the files they’d ask for and brought out a worn yellow notepad with a black pen. 

A soft ring announced their entrance to the place, only a few of the people present in it paying attention to the newcomers. The two villains got over where the professor sat quickly, their pace fast.

“Venomous” Cosma greeted him, her hand stretched out as the man stood up, shaking her hand and nodding his head at Vormulax.

“Pleased to see you.” He greeted back, taking his seat again and checking in a quick glance he had all he needed. The recently arrived villains sat across him.

“Let us start,” the reptile woman spoke, “Vormulax.” She called out as the cloudy being handed her a black folder with a complex stamp sealing it. 

Cosma took it into her gloved hands, handing it over to Venomous.

The black folder exuded a strange feeling, he stared at it, unwilling to grab it without an explanation. 

“I thought we were waiting for Billiam?” the professor tried to avoid whatever conversation these two were starting by giving him a strange folder. 

“He can’t come.” A voice thin as fog spoke, red eyes staring at him expectantly, “It’s us three for now.” They said matter-of-factly, hands still on the table.

He stared at the black container, the woman’s hand still holding it out for him to grab. The current situation unnerved him.

This wasn’t a regular meeting…

In a quick blink, he grabbed the folder carefully. The paper sliding off Cosma’s hand in a low rustle that echoed loudly in his head. Whatever the contents of the container were, they felt heavy on his hands, almost as if they weren’t meant to be seen.

“I’ll have to ask you to turn off the computer, Professor.” Her voice swift and demanding, blue gloved hands pushing the laptop’s screen down a bit, as if a cue for him to press the switch off in that same moment. 

Venomous looked bored at them, hiding the anxiety that was building inside him with their cryptic reunion. 

He pressed the on/off button and saw the screen turn black, assuring them it was off for the time being. 

“Open the folder, we’ll discuss about your assignment after you’ve read the briefing.” Cosma closed her eyes and crossed her arms on her chest, resting her back against the chair, the cloudy Vormulax stared at him intently.

Assignment...?

Venomous kept his eyes glued to the folder in his hands, his jaw tensing as he bit down the anxiety that built inside of him. Without thinking it twice, his right hand slid to the top, removing the seal with his nails, the thick sticker falling off to the table. Inside the folder, a thick packet of papers joined together with silver-colored grapples and clips. 

Grabbing out the packet, he saw a first empty blank page. Vormulax nodded at him to go on, to read the rest.

He turned the page over, finding a title.

_Re-acquisition of Boxmore, factory and production lines. _

A sinking feeling set in his stomach, knowing well already what the description said it would be about.

_Acquire the Boxmore factory and all its products to the Board of Villains, assigning a new manager to the factory._

He skimmed the next pages, reading something about the possible methods to boost production to unprecedented levels, how to lower the spending and production costs that seemed way too low to be real. 

As he went through the pages, finding more information on the things they would do with it, expanding the production to Battleburg and other places, the new models and improvements that some villain came up with, which included a complete removal of the “personalities” of the robots. 

The more Venomous read, he realized he had no way out of this assignment. 

“So…?” Vormulax started, her voice seemed far from where he was, “Will you do it?”.

“Wait, he hasn’t read what’s at the end” Cosma interrupted, now her elbows on the table, hands together with her chin on top of them, her reptile eyes taking in his every movement. Vormulax just nodded and sat back, her attention drifting somewhere else.

As he reached the final pages, a collage of photographs held together by a clip struck him like a wall, a short transcription from an audio written underneath. It couldn’t be.

Of all things to happen, this couldn’t be real.

After the transcription appeared some reports, newspapers articles and private investigations made by P.O.I.N.T, all from 12 years ago.

How did they manage to acquire all this information?

“Now, Professor” her voice low, barely discernible from the chatter in the place, “You will do it.” Cosma stated, unmoving from her seat, chin resting on her hands.

He stared up from the papers that were on top of the table, meeting with the serious stares both villains gave him.

“I…” he started quietly, then he cleared his throat.

“I will do it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Things are starting to turn, forgotten things are being brought back in the strangest ways and this ride is just starting.
> 
> As always thanks for reading and leaving kudos! I hope to see you all next week ✌.
> 
> If there's a typo or anything alike all criticism is well received!


	4. Casual Work

Inside the fluorescent lit room, various screens displayed different schemes of the inner mechanisms inside the latest version of Shannon, the center where the glorb resides had a new lining along with some additional connections to the whole body with optimized joints, improving the energy flow in them. 

Various comments written haphazardly on the file with some typos depicted the new materials used and expected results of said materials when tried and yet Lord Boxman sat silently in front of the screens, a burnt core in his hands.

It should be working as expected, but it wasn’t.

He ran his eyes through the drawn schemes and notes he wrote beside them, finding something he could theorize on that was causing the overheating, hot enough to meld the circuits and plaques together in an unrecognizable lump of darkened metals.

It seemed he was out of luck today.

Even after going back and forward between the workbench and the main screen, he couldn’t find what was causing this whole mess. With all the parts involved melt together like this, it was impossible to dismantle and analyze each part to come up with a quick fix.

With a frustrated huff, he threw the whole thing away in a large grey can, to melt it again. Some of it could be reused later, he hoped. 

One of the smaller screens blinked with a message from Ernesto, a small circle displaying the purple robot's face beside it.

_Professor Venomous is back from his meeting, Lord Boxman._

Boxman read the message and glanced at the small clock in the corner of the screen.

_2:44 pm_

It had taken Venomous longer than expected with the Board, he should have been back four hours ago. Could something have happened at the meeting?

Or rather, could something have gone wrong at the meeting?

He felt the uneasiness set in him, a strange weight dropping in his stomach. The wise thing to do was to talk with the professor directly. 

Boxman combed the messy teal hair with his talon and wiped the soot and dirt off his cheeks with a piece of fabric that he kept near the door. He decided to leave his lab coat as he left his laboratory slash workshop, the door opening to the halls of the factory.

The place was obscured by the opaque grey clouds that loomed above, the white fluorescent lights making it look duller along with the faint sound of the drizzle against the glass panes on the roof.

Every step he took felt strange, things passing him by in a blur as he made his way to the ground floor to greet Venomous and ask him about the meeting. The uneasiness still weighing his body down.

Once he arrived at the garage in the ground floor, he saw the professor.

The usual white coat was semitransparent, a layer of white dulling the midnight blue sweater he wore as it stuck closer to his skin, along with the black pants while the boots had a wet shine to them.

It seemed the Professor had been out in the rain for a while, after all he was soaked to the bone.

“O-Oh!” Venomous exclaimed, eyes widening as he noted his presence, “You scared me for a moment there” he finished as his body turned towards him.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude! Just came to greet you” Boxman looked up at Venomous, realizing his hair stuck in weird directions from its usual tidy manner.

“It’s alright, I was just surprised.” A small sigh and his shoulders had become less tense as he looked back more calmly at his business partner. 

A few awkward seconds passed them in silence, before Boxman broke the building tension.

“Would you like to warm up?” He blurted out thoughtlessly, grabbing one of the professor's hands in his.

The taller man seemed to have been caught off guard, a surprised quack coming out of him. 

“Sure, it sounds nice” his words still surprised, giving the other’s hands a soft squeeze, enjoying the warmth.

“You should change first, though.” Boxman noted, “You might catch a cold.”

“Right.” His hands now out of the warm hold rested at his sides, feeling the wet and heavy fabric of his lab coat.

“I’ll prepare us some coffee, is that alright?”

“I think I’ll just have tea” He replied, the smaller man guessed he might have had a headache for a while now. 

“Be right back.” He gestured towards the hall, “And dry yourself up” he noted before walking out to the hall.

As he headed towards the kitchen, he heard the faint steps of the professor’s boots fade away deeper into the factory. Once he was sure he was out of sight, he jogged the rest of the way.

In a hurry, he started the coffeemaker and poured some water in a pot, probably not the best idea, as he set it on the stove to high heat. He looked through the shelves finding whatever resembled a tea package among the different shapes and sizes of packs with strange names. In the end he settled for the violet and green packaging that had “passionflower” written in fancy lettering that accompanied the illustrations of delicate flowers, along with “passiflora incarnata” beneath it smaller, regular letters. He took out a bag from the box.

The bubbling sound of the coffee machine and the steam coming out abundantly from the pot reminded him they were nearly finished.  
He turned off the stove, the flame dying out as he grabbed the handle of the pot, leaving it on the counter as he looked for a mug inside the higher shelves. The machine had beeped and turned itself off in the meantime. 

Now with the two mugs he needed on the counter, he dropped the teabag in and poured the water, making a small puddle of boiling water in the process. With a towel he put the mug aside and dried the spilt water by leaving the towel on top of it. The glass that contained the coffee was taken out and poured himself a nice quantity, the smell of coffee coming off with the warm steam that hit his face. 

Once finished, he placed the drinks on a tray and made his way out, slapping himself mentally for not knowing where Venomous had went to. 

He made a wild guess and headed to his office. 

Walking in the hall, he found the door to the office open ajar, the lights turned on as it made a thin sliver of warm yellow light on the ground.

As he entered, he saw the professor sitting idly on the sofa against the wall, which usually was used as a makeshift bed during times of breakthroughs or thorough research. He had his glasses on while reading a report Ernesto had left earlier, yet it seemed he wasn’t really reading it. 

Boxman arrived with the tray holding two steaming cups. His pace was slow to make sure not a single drop was wasted.

As he neared the sofa, he extended the tray to the professor, his fingers wrapping around the dark mug, the earthy aroma wafting softly upwards to his nostrils, seeming pleased.

After the mug was taken, he sat beside the taller man, leaving the tray in the table beside them and grabbing his drink between his hands. 

He waited a while before speaking, taking a long sip of his coffee.

“How did the meeting go?” Boxman inquired curiously.

“It went well” Venomous affirmed, “as long as we keep the sales up and lower the production costs as much as we can they’ll leave us alone.” He waved his hand dismissively, rolling his eyes as he lifted the mug to his lips to take a sip.

The smaller man took a sip of his drink, looking from the corner of his eye the stiff position Venomous had, his head hanging tiredly as he stared into the mug, avoiding all eye contact. It was clear he was bothered by something.

He couldn’t bear the silence between them, how everything seemed to be so off with the professor. 

They shared a few more silent seconds, taking quiet sips from their drinks.

His talon claws tapped on his leg uneasily as he held the mug with his human hand. Still looking from the corner of his eye at how low the other man was.

Boxman left his mug on the table, the drink still warm. He turned his head to look at Venomous, who was still staring into his half full drink, his hand playing with the tag of the bag. 

Reassuringly, he rested his human hand on the man’s wrist, catching his attention, now looking at him.

Venomous’ eyes were dark, lids hanging low and tiredly, out of their usual bored expression. His skin no longer a vivid lavender but paler, close to a dull grey tone. Even his hair while dry, was disheveled and messy with a few strands falling on his face. 

He stroked his wrist softly before speaking.

“Are you feeling alright?” 

“I’m just…” he paused for a bit, looking away, “a bit tired.”

He wanted to know what was making the professor feel this way, but to push it at this time wouldn’t be the best idea. 

He slid his hand up from his wrist, interlacing his fingers with Venomous’. 

“You should rest, maybe take a nap” Boxman gave another squeeze, feeling the cold skin warm up slightly, “After all, you came here all soaked”.

“There’s still a lot that needs to get done” Venomous countered, “I can deal with this”.

The man beside him gave him a look of concern but also ready to lecture him.

“Okay, okay” he sighed, “I’ll rest a bit”.

The snake-like man inched closer and closer, resting his head on his shoulder silently with their hands now on his lap. The warmth that radiated from pale green skin offered a relief to the tension that was held in the other’s body, shoulders slowly loosening as he rested on his right side. 

He now had a small grin on his face, the warmth spread from his human hand to his face, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

Venomous let out a soft hum, leaning into Boxman as he held his hand.

“It was raining a lot…” 

“It was.”

He could tell the other man was fast asleep, taking out the loosely held mug from his hand and placing it beside his in the table, his coffee now long forgotten as it was the case with the tea.

With their hands still held together, Boxman fell asleep as Venomous' breathing filled the silence of the room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay, college has been draining the energy out of me and consuming my time in unexpected ways, but at last, I am back!
> 
> I had most of the chapters already written down but I was left with no time to review them, so you could expect some updates happening in what's left of this week.
> 
> As always, thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for deciding to read this fic! It's been so long since I last wrote a fanfic so any (constructive) criticism, suggestions or even if there's a typo anywhere are welcomed, since English is not my first language.
> 
> I'll try to keep up a mostly weekly update schedule for this fic, but in case anything arises, there will always be a little warning at the end of the chapters for delays.


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